Easy cleaning of coated surfaces is a significant selling point for many industries, in both consumer and industrial markets. Easy removal of dirt and prevention of dirt build-up are desirable properties for products such as automobiles. Environmental contaminants such as tar, asphalt, animal droppings, road salt, detergents, and the like may damage the surface of coated vehicles, architectural surfaces, and other industrial substrates. Damage may be caused by a chemical reaction of the contaminant with the coated surface such as by chemical etching, or may involve physical removal of part or all of the coating from the substrate (i.e., “cohesive failure”) upon removal of the contaminant during cleaning. Cohesive failure may also involve incomplete removal of the contaminant from the coated surface during cleaning.
It would be desirable to provide polymers and coating compositions that may be used in methods of mitigating dirt build-up on a substrate in order to prevent such damage to coatings.